From reports by LBCC’s Chris Ruiz
The Long Beach City College softball team picked up a pair of impressive wins over 2009 conference champions on Saturday that should help their postseason seeding the following weeks. The Vikings downed Orange Empire Conference champion Cypress College 8-5 and Pacific Coast Conference champ Palomar College 3-0 in a three-way double header at LBCC.
The wins improved Long Beach to 31-11 overall and closed out the Vikings’ non-conference schedule. LBCC’s regular season and final South Coast Conference game is on Tuesday (Apr. 21) when Long Beach hosts Mt. San Antonio College at 2 p.m.
Long Beach started Saturday with an 8-5 come-from-behind win over Cypress. The Chargers jumped ahead 4-1 in the top of the third inning before LBCC posted two runs in the bottom of the inning to cut Cypress’ lead to 4-3.
Cypress went ahead 5-3 on Kim Frazier’s second solo homerun of the game in the top of the fifth. But that would be all for the Chargers.
The Vikings opened up the bottom of the fifth with five straight singles off Cypress starting pitcher Natasha Ruiz. Shortstop Rose Vargas drove in second baseman Alyssa Aguirre, left fielder Vanessa Samudio scored on a wild pitch, and third baseman Valentina Nabayan came in to score on an error to give Long Beach a 6-5 advantage.
First baseman Monique Ogata put an exclamation point on the win with a solo homerun to lead off the bottom of the sixth that chased Ruiz from the pitcher’s circle for Cypress. Four batters later, Vargas drove in center fielder Karina Martinez with a single off Cypress reliever Roni Alvarado for her third RBI of the game to close the Vikings’ scoring.
Vargas (3 for 3, 3 RBI), Aguirre (3 for 4, 3 runs), and Nabayan (3 for 3, 2 runs, 1 RBI) all had three hits to lead the LBCC offense.
Christine Gonzalez earned the win in relief for the Vikings. She allowed just one hit over the final three innings and struck out three. Starter Kaci Keltner gave up eight hits and five runs (five earned) in 4+ innings.
Ruiz allowed seven runs (five earned) and 11 hits in 5+ innings to get the loss for Cypress. Frazier went 2 for 3 with two homeruns, two runs, and two RBI to lead Cypress at the plate.
Long Beach closed the afternoon with its 3-0 win over Palomar. Gonzalez tossed a two-hit shutout for her second win of the day. She struck out five and walked just one in the complete-game effort.
The Vikings struck early, getting a run in the first inning. Vargas drove in her fourth run of the day with a RBI single that brought in Martinez.
The Vikings had chances to break the game wide open in the third and fifth innings. LBCC had the bases loaded with no outs, but managed to force in runs on double-play groundouts from Samudio and Nabayan.
Vargas was 2 for 3 against Palomar to close her day 5 for 6 over both contests. Martinez was 1 for 1 with two runs vs. the Comets.
Alex Hutchinson picked up the loss for Palomar (21-16). She allowed three runs (two earned) and just three hits in the complete-game losing effort.
Also during the day, Cypress (39-8) squeezed out a 1-0 eight-inning win over Palomar. Kayla Van Duren’s bases-loaded single drove in Jackie Orosco for the game-winning run for the Chargers. Ruiz picked up the win with 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.